Artwork Made with Office Supplies

Check out artists who create masterpieces using everyday workplace items

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For most of us, the materials scattered throughout our offices, whether they be Post-its, pencils, paper clips or staples, are mere tools of the trade. But clearly we're just not being very creative—some people consider them inspiration for art. Office supplies can do wonders when they fall into the right hands.

Using 185,252 colored pencils, San Francisco's "Celebrity Junk Drawer" artist singlehandedly designed and installed this piece, which took him five years (1997-2002). The creation currently covers most of the wall space in the 980-square-foot home of Mecier's friend Jaina A. Davis, who invited her artist friends to have their way with the house's interior after she bought it. Photo courtesy of Alicia J. Rose.

In 2005, Mangin created this 63 Post-it x 42 Post-it (2,646 notes total) Elvis mosaic using two official Post-it color palettes, Aquatic and Sunbrite (for Elvis's eyes, Mangin used a single package of dark blue). In 2006 Mangin's work caught the attention of someone at Late Show with David Letterman, on which he was invited to do a live mosaic of Letterman's stage manager, Biff Henderson. Photo courtesy of Raleigh, NC, Web Developer Scott Reston.

While fussing with a "mosaic effect" on Photoshop in 2007, the then 19-year-old art student at Washington's Wenatchee Valley College got the idea for creating a Post-it mosaic. Requiring 2,000 sticky notes, the 10-foot Ray Charles—which he exhibited in an art show at the Stanley Civic Center—took Alvarez three months to complete. Photo courtesy of David Alvarez.

This Austin, Texas–based sculptor started building metal spiders entirely out of confiscated scissors from airport security checkpoints in 2007. Breaking the pieces apart and using heat to mold them, Locke rewelds the metal together with stainless steel. He sells his artwork on his website HeartlessMachine.com. Photo courtesy of Christopher Locke.

Using approximately 10,000 crayons, which he handmade from encaustic wax using molds and a rice cooker, Faur created this 39" x 19.5" mosaic of his then 3-year-old daughter holding her mom's hand at the airport. In2007, the piece was displayed at the Sherrie Gallery in Columbus, Ohio (through which it was later sold) as part of Faur's first crayon series. Photo courtesy of Christian Faur.

Featuring approximately 4,000 paperclips, Ponzo's signature chandelier, which he's fabricated more than a dozen times, takes him six weeks on average to create. Ponzo was thrust into the limelight in 2008 when the magazine Metropolitan Home featured the piece in their "Showtime House," in a room inspired by the show Californication. Photo courtesy of Alan Tanksley.

Made of 35,000 staples, this piece—coupling the two artworks "Air Force One" and "Air Force Two"— took 75 hours to create. It was displayed at Galerie Patricia Dorfmann in Paris in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Photo courtesy of Baptiste Debombourg.

Using pushpins or thumbtacks, Daigh worked off and on throughout a four-month period in 2009 to create this self-portrait on a 30" x 40" board using 8,500 pins. The work is currently for sale on his website EricDaigh.com. Photo courtesy of Eric Daigh.

In 2002, the Polish artist made this sculpture using only rubber-bands (no glue or additional binding solution was used). The piece—which was displayed at Ujazdowski Castle's Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Poland—stands 32 feet tall at its highest point, and uses its subject's innate flexibility to relay the artist's message: "The elastic bodies are meant to appear to be begging strength from each other, frozen in the highest possible moment of tension." Photo by Rafal Lipski courtesy of Gallery Nachst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwaelder.